Smoking device



March 9, 1943. I Jr JACQB 2,313,344

' SMOKING DEVICE Filed May 23, 1941 IVNVENTOR I EZe/(ze/ JJaco PatentedMar. 9, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT} OFFIQE SMOKING DEVICE Ezekiel J.Jacob, New York, N. Y., assignor to Benjamin Liebowitz, New York, N. Y.

Application May 23, 1941, Serial No. 394,895

" 4 Claims.

The present application is a continuation in part of my priorapplication Serial No. 330,504 filed April 19, 1940.

My present invention relates to smokers pipes, and more particularly todevices for eliminating tarry substances and condensates from the smokestream of a pipe.

There have been made a great number of proposals to eliminate thecondensate from the smoke stream by the use of filtering devices in thestern of the pipe or elsewhere not in contact with the burning tobacco.However, the condensates in the smoke stream rapidly accumulate in thesefiltering devices; in addition to that, there is an accumulation of themoisture from the smokers breath and saliva. 'Thus, these knownfiltering devices act as a meeting place for these liquids and after arelatively short period of smoking become befouled and give rise toobjectionable odor and taste; they Another object of my invention is toafiord some protection to the pipe bowl from the heat of the burningtobacco. This object is of particular significance at the time of thisapplication when the importation of the hard briar woods usuallyemployed in smokers pipes is substantially cut ofi and when moreextensive use of domestic woods may be necessitated. By interposing aprotective layer between the burning tobacco and the pipe bowl,destructive distillation of the wood of the pipe bowl is reduced,thereby making a wider choice of woods possible for this purpose.

In order to attain these objects and others to be described, thisinvention provides a device for trapping condensible vapors in the bowlof serve a useful purpose only for a very limited 1 smoking period andthereafter defeat the purpose for which they were invented.

Therefore, it is the principal object of my present invention to providean absorbing device which not merely catches the tarry sub-- stances orcondensates, but to a high degree disposes of them by exposing them tothe temperature of the burning tobacco; this causes destructivedistillation or otherwise burns 01f the said condensate, leaving behinda slowly-accumulated carbon residue which does not interfere with thefunctioning of the device but, on the contrary, aids it. a

Another object of my invention is to provide an absorbing device adaptedto lie in the bowl of a pipe in contact with the tobacco therein, toabsorb the condensate formed during smoking, and to expose it to thetemperature of the burning tobacco.

Still another object of my present invention is to make such anabsorbing device durable by reducing its tendency to burn out whenexposed to localized excessive temperature due, for instance, to theflame of a match.

A further object of my invention is to distribute localized excessivetemperature over a greater surface of the absorbing device, therebypreventing burning-out of the absorbing device at these localized hightemperature points.

Still a further object of my present invention consists in conveying theheat from the combustion zone to the zones where no combustion takesplace thereby causing additional evap ration of tarry liquidsinthese-zones.

a smokers pipe and exposing at least a substantial part of thecondensate to the temperature of burning tobacco in the combustionregion. The device comprises an absorbent pervious aggregate, e. g., alayer consisting of fine heat resistant filaments of relatively low heatconductivity and of heat resistant filaments of relatively high heatconductivity, which aggregate is adapted to lie in contact with theburning tobacco in the bowl of a pipe. In a preferred embodiment, thesaid aggregate is made in the form of a sack, adapted to lie in the bowlof a pipe and to hold the tobacco while it is smoked. The expressionheat resistant as used throughout this specification and the claims,means having the ability to withstand the temperature encountered in thebowl of the pipe due to the burning tobacco therein, without under--going any substantial physical or chemical change.

' The reason therefore is that the heat resistant filaments ofrelatively high heat conductivity incorporated in the absorbentaggregate distribute the heat over a greater surface, thereby reducingthe temperature. Thus, the heat resistant filaments of a relatively lowheat conductivity are protected from being melted or otherwise damagedby the heat of the flame.

The heat resistant filaments may be chosen of a group of materialswhich. all are heat re-.

sistant and of a relatively low heat conductivity. Glass filaments, forinstance, are especially well adapted for the purpose of this invention:glass is heat resistant in the sense herein defined and can be readilydrawn into extremely fine filaments. It is of particular advantage forthe specific embodiments herein shown that yarns made of such filamentscan be woven or knitted into fabrics which are perviousand asborbent. Asan example of a specific embodiment, yarns which are very satisfactoryfor the present purposes may be made by twisting together approximately100 glass filaments, each of. Whichhas a diameter of the order ofmagnitude of a few ten-thousandths of an inch; a number, e. g. six, ofthe resulting yarns may be plied or twisted together to form the finalyarn of which the desired fabric may be made. In the making of theseyarns a low twist is preferred because it is conducive to a higherdegree of absorptivity.

These glass, or other heat resistance filaments of relativel low heatconductivity, or the yarns made thereof, form the main part of theabsorbent aggregates, layers or fabrics. Incorporated therein are theheat resistant filaments. of rela'mvely high heat conductivity. Ipropose to use mainly fine metallic wires as such filaments. The metalthese wires are made of should preferably have a melting point wellabove the temperature obtained in the pipe bowl due to the burningtobacco therein. Suitable materials are, e. g., chromium nickel, ironnickel alloys, or other metals having a substantially high melting pointand high resistance to. oxidation at elevated temperatures. It is notnecessary for the melting point to be unusually high, however, asthe'temperature of the flame of a match seldom exceeds 1000 F.

These metallic wires of relatively high heat conductivity shouldpreferably have a diameter of about .002 to .005 inch and be properlydistributed through the absorbent filaments of relatively low heatconductivity.

It should be noted that. I call the aggregate, layer, or fabric made offilaments of relatively low heat conductivity, e. g. glass filaments,absorbent, although the glass filaments per se are hardly classifiableas such. Materials which are ordinarily classed as absorbent owe thisproperty mainly to their physical structure and not to the nature of thematerial per se. For example, consider a sheet of cellulose acetate.Such a sheet would not be classed as absorbent and its actualabsorptivity is very low. Nevertheless, when this material is drawn intoexceedingly fine filaments, and when these filaments are spun intoyarns, and these yarns subsequently woven or knitted into a. fabric, theresulting fabric is definitely classifiable as absorbent. Precisely thesame remarks a.p-- ply, for example, to glass. In either case the. ma--terial in the form of a fabric has a vastly greater capacity forabsorbing liquids than in the form of a sheet. The reason for this is: awell-known one, associated with the words capillary action. In general,any aggregate. of material in highly divided form, that is, having alarge surface per unit of mass, would be classed as absorbent toward anliquid which wets it.

The aggregates, layers and fabrics, especially the glass fabric, hereinproposed, have the above defined characteristic property of capillarity.By virtue of this property the tarry liquids which otherwise would tendto accumulate more at the bottom of the bowl and through the stem are toa 7 considerable extent distributed over the surface of the sack andthus are exposed to the combustion temperatures of the tobacco onsubsequent smoking, and destroyed by the heat of the burning tobacco.

This way of eliminating the undesirable tarry liquids is eflicientlysupplemented by the heat transfer due to the metallic wires incorporatedin the. absorbent aggregate: these metallic wires convey heat from thecombustion zone to the zones where little or no combustion takes place,e. g., in the direction of the lower part and the bottom of the bowl,and thereby raise the temperature in this part of the bowl; thisincrease of temperature lowers the viscosity of the tarry substancesinsaid part of the bowl and thereby promotes their transference bycapillary action to the hotter region where they may be destroyed.

Thus, by the present invention accumulation of 20 undesirable liquids issubstantially avoided by virtue of the facts that these liquids,firstly, are trapped to a large extent in the combustion zone, secondly,the heat of the combustion zone is spread over thelower partand bottomof. the bowl, thereby causin additional transfer of the liquids to thehotter zones, and, thirdly, because inthese high temperature zones theliquids are destroyed by the heat they are exposed to, and leave behinda slowly accumulating carbon residue, which helps rather than hindersthe operation of thedevice. Excessive carbon deposits can. be removed inthe samev wayas they are removed from ordinary pipes.

The. incorporated wires, furthermore, mechani- 35 call-y strengthen thestructure of the aggregate,

e. g.v fabric of. which. the absorbent device is made. By increasing themechanical strength of the absorbent device, it retains its shape moreeasily; furthermore, the wires, When-incorporated in an 40 appropriatemanner in a knitted fabric, hinder the fabric .bowl from. unravelling.This function of the wire is particularly useful in the course ofproduction of the fabric bowls.

. In the accompanyingv diagrammatic.- drawing I show a preferredembodiment of my invention from which the same will be more. clearlyunder-- stood. In this drawing Fig. 1- isa cross-section of apipeequipped with a. specific embodiment of the new absorbing device; and

Figs. 2 and 3 are enlarged fragmentary views of two modifications of theknitted fabric of which the new absorbing device, shown in'Fl'g; 1,, ismade.

Referring to the drawing: 2 is the bowl of a pipe which may be ofconvenient. or usual structure; I is the bowl, basket or-sack-likeelement adapted to liev within. the pipe bowl 2. and to receive and holdthe tobacco- This bowl. or sack-like element I may be woven. or knitted,preferably knitted, of glass yarn described above; in the knittedfabric: of this sack-like element l metallic wires. are. incorporated inthe way described below in detail.

For convenience in manufacturing the knitting is tubular; that. is, the.fabric itself is knitted in theform of a. continuous tube when usingsizes of: glass yarn mentioned above,v the knitting is preferably doubleply and rib stitch. This. tube is closed at intervals. by pinching ittogether by means of a. wire or staple. or. other convenient means, thelength of. the intervals. being selected so as to produce sack-likeelements of. appropriatelength. After the'pinching together of the tubesat these intervals, theyare cut apart and the sack-like elements arefinally completed by finishing oil the open end. A tuft is left asindicated at 3. This tuft may be turned inside the sack, as shown inFig. 1, or outside the sack.

It is preferable, but not absolutely essential, for the purpose of thisinvention that the bottom of the sack-like element be completely closed.A small opening may be left at the bottom. While this is not aseffective as complete closure in trapping condensate and in preventingsolid particles from entering the stem of the pipe, I have foundexperimentally that it still gives very good results.

In order to finish off the open end of the sacklike element, a rim 4 maybe attached; in some cases it is preferable to design the rim in such amanner that it will frictionally engage the bowl of the pipe, internallyor externally.

Two different modifications of the way of incorporating the metallicwires into the knitted fabric are shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The fabricitself is knitted of yarns 6 of glass filaments. The knitting isdouble-ply, i. e., the fabric consists of two knitted plies i. As shownin Fig. 2, the metallic wires 8 lie between the two plies l and formsmall loops 9.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 3, the knitting of the glass yarn isidentical with the one shown in Fig. 2, The only difference is that themetallic wires lie not only between the two plies l and H of theknitting, but the wire loops l2 form part of the outer ply H.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the metallic wires are substantially evenlydistributed in the fabric; the distance and arrangement of the metallicwires is preferably chosen in such a manner that they are spaced fromthe inner surface, and that from each point of this inner surface atleast one of these metallic wires is not farther than one-sixteenth ofan inch.

In order to increase the capillary action of the absorbent material, e.g., sack-like elements described, it is advantageous to have a lightdeposit of carbon particles thereon. This end may be achieved, andsimultaneously another end achieved by baking the completed sacks at atemperature of approximately 400 to 650 degrees Fahrenheit for, say,approximately 30 minutes. It will be understood that all yarns,including the glass yarns herein described, are generally treated withsizing material comprising oils, waxes, starch, etc., to secure betterproperties for the various manufacturing operation. These sizingmaterials in the finished absorbent sacklike elements are objectionablebecause they give a noticeable taste during the first smokes. By theabove baking operation, however, the oils, etc. are broken down, and inbeing broken down they leave the desired carbon residue. In this way theobjectionable initial taste is eliminated, and an improved capillaryaction is obtained.

A smokers pipe equipped with one of these baked absorbent bowls smokessatisfactorily, without appreciable extraneous odors or tastes, from thevery beginning.

It is, furthermore, possible to provide the glass yarn and theincorporated metallic wires with an additional heat resistant absorbentcoating, e. g., by applying to these yarns and wires a carbonizablesubstance and exposing them, with the carbonizable substance appliedthereto, to a temperature sufficient to carbonize this substance,thereby forming an absorbent carbon residue adhering to said yarns andwires. As carbonizable substance Imay use the most different organicsubstances, e. g., mineral and vegetable oils, waxes, sugar, or thelike.

The specific embodiments shown are merely illustrative.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent ofthe United States is:

1. A sack-like device adapted to lie in the bowl of a smokers pipe andto contain the tobacco while it is smoked, said sack-like devicecomprising a heat resistant absorbent layer lying during use of saiddevice at least partly in the combustion zone of said pipe, said layerconsisting of fine glass filaments and fine metallic wires.

2. A device for smokers pipes comprising a pervious absorbent sack-likeelement adapted to contain the tobacco while it is smoked, thus lyingduring use at least partly in contact with the burning tobacco in thebowl of the pipe, the fabric of said sack-like element consisting offine glass filaments and fine metallic wires, the latter being arrangedin said fabric in such a manner that from each point of the innersurface of said sack-like element at least one of said fine metallicwires is at a distance of not more than oneeighth of an inch. v

3. A device for smokers pipes comprising a pervious absorbent fabricsack-like element adapted to lie in contact with the burning tobacco inthe bowl of a pipe and to contain the tobacco while it is smoked, thefabric of said sack-like element being knitted of fine metallic wiresand yarns of fine glass filaments.

4. A device for smokers pipes comprising a knitted double-ply fabricsack-like element adapted to lie in contact with the burning tobacco inthe bowl of a pipe and to contain the tobacco while it is smoked, thefabric of said sack-like element consisting of yarns of fine glassfilaments and fine metallic wires arranged substantially between the twoplies of said fabric in such a manner that from each point of the innersurface of said sack-like element at least one of said metallic wires isat a distance of not more than oneeighth of an inch.

EZEKIEL' J. JACOB.

